


head in the clouds

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23984371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: On an ordinary day in May, Scorpius' soulmark appears.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 143





	head in the clouds

**Author's Note:**

> if you follow me on tumblr (same username!!), you'll notice this is the same fic as scorbus 1 that i posted there from the writing prompt challenge (with a few tiny edits). if you don't follow me on tumblr, you should!!! :)

It was a warm, sticky day when Scorpius realized that his soulmate symbol had appeared. He was supposed to be studying with Albus, but the other boy had fallen asleep with his head on his Potions textbook about an hour ago, so he was alternating between reading a book and watching the Giant Squid move about slowly. Scorpius had gently lifted his best friend’s face off of the pages and closed it, setting it neatly on top of their combined stack of books.

N.E.W.T.s were rapidly approaching and they really had no time to waste, but there was no harm in a little nap. Scorpius would wake him up in five minutes or so to get back to work. In the meantime, Albus could rest his eyes, and Scorpius could sneak little peaks at the smattering of freckles that graced his best friend’s cheeks.

It would be an understatement to say that he hoped that his and Albus’ soulmate symbols matched. It was a fervent hope akin to that of a schoolgirl wishing that she would have the same symbol as her idol’s and they would live a long and happy life together. His hope was equally desperate. And equally unlikely.

When his parents had first told him about the symbols at age 10, he’d gone, as Albus would say, “full geek.” He’d been fascinated by it and asked for every book about soulmate symbols that he could get his hands on. His parents had obliged. He knew that the soulmarks formed after you met your soulmate, but they could show up randomly. It could take milliseconds, it could take years. Some people were very lucky and knew instantaneously. Others only found out that they had been soulmates all along on their deathbeds. It was an unreliable, volatile bit of magic, but interesting nonetheless.

Scorpius let out a little sigh. He had to get rid of this stupid crush. Infatuation. Whatever it was. Deep, deep down, he knew that this was more than a silly little crush. It had been with him for three years now and it didn't look like it was going away anytime soon. And Albus would never return his feelings. How could he? They had been best friends for so long, Albus probably saw him as a brother. Admitting his feelings would be catastrophic for their friendship.

Unless their soulmarks matched, that is...

Scorpius shook his head, trying to banish the nagging thoughts about kissing Albus silly. Not the time, not the place, not the anything. Perhaps cooling off would help him. He had started to roll up the cuffs of his pants so he could stick his feet in the Great Lake when he noticed a dark smudge on his ankle. Scorpius had frowned and tried to wipe it off, thinking he’d managed to kick up some mud while walking around the grounds, but it wouldn’t budge. His stomach swooped as he looked a bit closer.

There it was. On his left ankle, there was a small mark, almost like a tattoo. Its shape didn't really look like anything identifiable. If he squinted, it looked almost like a cloud. Or a piece of cotton candy. Or a sheep with no head or legs. He got to his feet immediately and started to shake Albus’ shoulder.

“Albus! Albus!” he shouted, unable to contain his excitement.

Albus groaned and threw an arm over his eyes. “I don’t want to do any more homework, please Scorp, let me sleep.”

“No! You’ve gotta get up. It’s important.” His best friend sat up and rubbed at his eyes.

“What’s up?”

“My symbol! It’s here! Oh, I wonder who it is. It could be anyone at Hogwarts, right? Or anyone I’ve ever met? Man, that doesn’t narrow it down very much. But it’s cool to know I have one! I was worried, for a bit, started to think that I’d meet the one after Hogwarts, you know?” As he spoke, Albus’ lips quirked slightly before being immediately replaced by a frown. Scorpius stopped talking as soon as he saw his best friend’s face crumble.

“What’s wrong? Oh, you haven’t gotten your symbol yet, right? I’m sorry, Albus. You’ll meet her soon!” Or him, he wanted to add, but if he said it now it would be far too obvious and the jig would be up. Did Albus know? Was that why he looked so upset? He knew that Scorpius loved him and he pitied him? He shook his head. No, there was no way the other boy knew. But then, what else would be bothering him?

“No, no, I...” Albus swallowed, casting his eyes to the sky. “I do have a symbol.”

“Really?” Scorpius squeaked. “You didn’t tell me! Oh, you gotta show me, Albus, I’m dying to see what yours looks like! When did you get it? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Albus gnawed at his lower lip, still looking at the clouds rolling past. “I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders, but his slight frown didn’t leave his face. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“Of course! Mine’s not hard to find, really, it’s on my ankle. It’s convenient! Plus, easy to spot, because you have to tie your shoes, so you see your feet every day. I’m lucky it’s not somewhere embarrassing, like on my butt. Behind the ear would be hard, too, you’d never notice it.” Scorpius couldn’t help but babble as he stuck his left foot out, holding his arms out to balance. He didn’t want to watch when Albus said that his was different. He’d had enough bad experiences from the Delphi incident and his mother’s passing to last him several lifetimes over, thank you very much. Any more and he might explode. But still. It was inevitable. What were the chances that they matched, anyway? One in a million?

When several minutes had passed without another word, Scorpius risked a glance. Albus was still sitting there, holding his foot aloft. Instead of a frown, however, his face was entirely slack. “Albus? What’s wrong? It's getting hard to balance."

Albus still sat there wordlessly, blinking into empty space, his mouth opening and closing a bit like a fish. Then, slowly, he pulled off his sweater and started unbuttoning his shirt. Scorpius felt his eyes go very, very wide. 

“Why are you getting naked? Not that it’s a bad thing. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. Goodness me, you can ignore that, it’s the heat, you know, and I’m flustered from this soul…mark…” Scorpius forgot the end of his sentence.

Staring back at him, in the middle of Albus’ chest, was the little cloud. _Their_ cloud. Their symbol.

“We have the same symbol?” All the air had been sucked from Scorpius’ lungs, but he still managed to eke out that sentence. Albus nodded, staring at Scorpius’ foot as though it had kicked him off of a cliff.

Scorpius sat down, a little oof escaping him. There was air in him yet. He looked at his best friend’s face and started to laugh. And laugh. Albus let out a chuckle, his eyebrows raised. When Scorpius was finished, he surged forward and wrapped his best friend in a hug.

“Of course! Of course! How could it have been anybody but you?”

“I thought for sure your soulmate would be Rose,” Albus confessed in a small voice. “I knew you had given up on her years ago but... I couldn’t help but think that. I never thought it would be me. I couldn’t believe my own eyes when Gerald was staring back at me.”

Scorpius leaned back to look at his soulmate—his soulmate, he was so excited he could scream!—and wrinkled his nose. “Gerald?”

Albus’ cheeks were redder than a tomato. “I named him. He looks a bit like a deformed sheep, doesn’t he?”

Scorpius felt another laughing fit come on, so he decided to nod. To safeguard against bursting out again, he also covered his mouth with his hand. Immediately, Albus batted his hand away. “What was that for?”

“Uh, I… I was thinking of kissing you. Now that we know. But I can’t kiss you if your hand is in the way.” The flush had spread all the way to Albus’ ears. Scorpius revelled in the fact that he was allowed to look. He could look at Albus—his soulmate, he was never going to get used to that—all he wanted.

“Oh! That sounds wonderful. But I’m bad at kissing, I’ve never done it before. I mean, I’ve read romance novels, but they’re not super helpful for pointers. The only people who I’ve ever seen kiss are my parents. Which doesn’t really help, because who wants to think about their parents when they’re kissing their soulmate and best friend for the very first time?” Scorpius stopped for a breath and noticed that Albus was biting his lip to keep his smile from growing any further. “I’m sorry, it’s already hard enough to keep myself from blabbing away, but you’re looking at me like that and I can’t help myself!”

“Well, you better get used to it,” Albus said, knocking his shoulders against Scorpius’. “I’m gonna look at you—” he paused to do air quotes “—like this a lot more often. Not that I haven't been looking at you like this for years now."

Scorpius grinned in response. “I can’t wait!”


End file.
